Pollsters: Conservatives' attack ads hurt voter turnout and democracy

The attack ads the Conservative Party of Canada launched during this fall’s election campaign not only convinced some declared Liberals not to vote for their party, even more Canadians turned off entirely from voting.

Officials from Angus Reid Strategies on Thursday revealed polling results to The Vancouver Sun that showed the ubiquitous roll-of-the-dice TV ads that targeted Liberal leader Stephane Dion as a flip-flopping advocate of a carbon tax may have persuaded 11 per cent of Canadian respondents not to vote for any candidate at all.

The roll-of-the-dice attack ad — as well as a series of anti-Dion TV spots that aired soon after the Quebec MP was elected party leader in December, 2006 — were key to producing the lowest voter turnout in Canadian electoral history, pollsters Andrew Grenville and Mario Canseco said in an interview.Only 58 per cent of Canadians voted in the Oct. 14 election, compared to 72 per cent in 1993, when Canseco said the often-vicious style of TV ads began being used in Canada.Discussing the ethical implications of negative political advertising, Grenville argued his company’s pre-election poll of 1,500 Canadians show this year’s hard-hitting Conservative ads were part of a disturbing trend that is “poisoning the well” of Canadian politics. “Attack ads can often work in the short term. They can give you a short boost. But they reduce the number of people who want to vote. They reduce participation in the democratic process. They poison the system,” said Grenville, who has conducted political polling for about two decades.The Angus Reid pollsters spoke to The Vancouver Sun after sharing their findings about the Canadian election campaign at a private conference in Ontario of the Assocation of Canadian Advertisers, who were meeting to discuss improving the ethical standards of marketing.The Angus Reid pollsters also maintained their online Canadian election surveys were the most accurate in the country in the run-up to the October election, correctly predicting the Conservatives would take 37 per cent of the popular vote. The polling company, founded by well-known Vancouverite Angus Reid, forecast the Liberals would get 27 per cent of the vote (the party ended up with 26 per cent), the NDP would receive 20 per cent (its final total was 18 per cent) and the Green Party would pick up seven per cent, which is what it did.The Conservative Party of Canada benefited from a low voter turnout on October 14, the pollsters said. The Canadian election campaign was called while many Canadians were distracted by the dramatic U.S. presidential election race. Conservative Party supporters are also known for making sure they cast a ballot, said Canseco, whereas that’s not always the case for many Liberals, NDP and Greens.Many supporters of Canada’s centre-left parties tend to be more idealistic than Conservatives. Idealists, people who dream of a better world, are prone to drop out of the electoral process if they believe it has become corrupt or unethical, Grenville said.In addition to Angus Reid researchers discovering the anti-Dion gambling ad may have stopped 11 per cent of Canadians from voting for any party at all, they noted the TV commercial may have caused 10 per cent of declared Liberals to switch their vote to Conservative. Ironically, the contentious TV ad, which asked viewers if they were prepared to “gamble” on Dion, proved effective even though the majority of poll respondents found it distasteful.The most common words those surveyed associated with the roll-the-dice TV ad were “disgust,” “lies” “unethical” and “unCanadian.”In contrast, the words that those polled most often associated with the recurring Conservative Party ad that showed Stephen Harper wearing a sweater and looking like a family man were “thoughtful,” “boring” and “honourable.” Maintaining that almost two decades of vicious political attacks ads in the U.S. have made a “farce” of democracy and voter turnout south of the border, Grenville said he hopes Canadians find a way to counteract negative campaigning. But it’s not, he said, going to be easy.“If (a political party or advertiser) repeats something often enough, it becomes embedded in the brain. You forget the source of it. You don’t know where the idea came from, but you’re stuck with it as part of your thinking and your feelings.”Grenville said Dion was absolutely right on Monday when, in announcing he would step down as Liberal leader, he remarked that he’d been backed into a corner by being targeted by more than a year of vicious TV ads.The Conservative ads typically portrayed Dion as bumbling and ineffective, repeatedly showing an image of the party leader shrugging his shoulders. “It’s up to the people of Canada to say they’re sick of this,” Grenville said, “to say they’re sick of being misled and lied to and having politics driven down into the mud.”Canseco, however, said the Conservatives are unlikely to take a less nasty approach in their advertising when the Liberals elect their next national party leader. “They’re probably preparing their attack ads right now.”

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This has been obvious for sometime. Politics has a bad rap because it has become full of bad rap. I say: no TV commercial or radio ads allowed. Get back to the town hall format and church basement discussion mode.

Hi, Cherryl. Here is my last input re this subject…I am of course concerned with the welfare of the World as well as Canada… in fact I see no difference in human beings…they all have their own wishes and dreams. As you say, “how could we possibly know if Mr Dion is moral? I think the question has been answered, in that Mr Harper has only been able to paint him as “not a Leader”… I am sure that Mr Dion has no baggage or they would have used it against him. I offer the following as a tribute to Mr. Dion 7th satire of Horace: Lib 11 “Responsare cupidinibus, comtenere honores Fortis; et in seipso touts, teres atque rotundus” Which may be freely rendered as “Strong to restrain immoderate desires, lightly esteeming public honours, a self reliant and courteous man.” According to this latest input, (see below) Mr Dion never stood a chance, and Canadians never did know who he was… When I sent in my first Post it was in response to the original question, which was to discuss whether or not Attack Ads ruined Mr Dion… only today I received a piece, from someone, written by Donald Gutstein/Media check.Under the heading ‘Grit Leader done in by the media’? You read it here first in the Tyee’ TheTyee.ca Mr Gutstein outlines the way in which Mr Dion was villified… he also mentions the following article from the Vancouver Sun. “Dion was instantly framed in the voter’s minds.” This last quote is from an article written by Journalist ‘Miro Cernetig’. I believe that the end result of the villification of Mr Dion was forseeable, the sad fact is that some aspects of the terrible egregiousness of many in the Media is just now coming to light… Also According to Gutstein, ” The Media reflected Ads they sold. If the commercials seemed true to the electorate, it was because the media were repeating the same message in their news stories and commentaries. It was the combination of paid (ads) and free (news stories and commentary) messaging that did Dion in. But the role of the media in that endeavour has been pretty well expunged from history”… I personally believe those in the media who perpetrated such acts, should be held accountable for character assassination… of course this is only my opinion…my old Grandmother used to say that “I can think what I like”…I don’t believe that there are any laws against this yet! I concur with my grandmother, and feel exactly the same. I have been asked several times why I do not run for office. Unfortunately I do not think my health is good enough for that, and I also have many endeavours which I have yet to finish. I can tell you that there is a strong bent for Politics in the family too. My cousin has been a Minister in the British Govt for many years, still is. He has also been a Minister with Portfolio several times… He is now a special Envoy to the present Prime Minister. My youngest son has run for office twice in Ontario, as a Candidate for the Ontario ‘Green Party’ He did extremely well both times… unfortunately he is ahead of his time…although I admire his tenacity… My strong sense of justice, no doubt comes from the fact that I am descended from a long line of ‘Dissenting Ministers.’ My sons have the same fierce belief in morality and truth. They are often denigrated for these traits, but persist anyway…the peculiar thing is that I never knew my Family History until 5 years ago, when after much research I put my Family back together… even though this generation was removed from the family proper for many generations, they still exhibit exactly the same traits. I have never believed in coincidence, and so I will close my last Posting with these two thoughts… “when I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fail… always” Mahatma Ghandi. “Karma, the Buddhist doctrine of moral cause and effect, which lasts over many lifetimes and within which, strictly speaking, there can be no coincidence”. I have enjoyed the exchange on this website. Now I leave it to others to find out the truth for themselves…and to do with it what they will…Kindest regards, Josephine.

Hi Josephine, We wouldn’t know how “moral” Mr Dion was until he had held the office. I’m sorry but even the brightest and best had their shortcomings. ( Churchill, Kennedy) The whole world is in a financial mess and (for the moment) Canada is less than most. The Conservative govt. doesn’t rule the world. The bible says to pray for all of our leaders, ( couldn’t hurt) short of that why don’t you run for office? I’m serious, I would but I have less patience than you for all the shenanigans. I LOVE it when women are interested in politics, keep up the good work.

My answer to you Cherryl, is that I have no answers for anyone…(only my own take on the matter)…except to say that I do believe that morality, truthfulness, altrusim and many other things are not obsolete, only sleeping…I think Canadians in general need a wake up call. They have become complacent. As you point out we are very lucky in Canada. Unfortunately, unless one actually looks at the background of individual Politicians, one cannot know the hidden depths of the same. For example, the Liberals were sitting pretty when Mr. Chretien was in power, unfortunately, because of a belief (rightly or wrongly) that Mr. Martin was trying to displace him, Mr Chretien before he left office, had a Law passed, to limit the amount of money that the Political candidates could raise. The limit was set at $1.100.00 for any individual who wished to donate. This caused the Corporations to no longer be able to donate large amounts as Mr. Chretien and the Leberals had previously enjoyed…. although I suspect that the Law of unintended consequences took over and the result of Mr Chretien’s anger, not only knee capped Mr. Martin, the end result was disasterous for the Liberal Party in General. Here is a party that had survived on Corporate donations, reduced to having to fund raise by soliciting individuals. The things I react to the most are when the means to achieve a goal, are immoral/amoral. All Parties are run by egoists. The trick is to find which of the Leaders has the good of a united Canada at heart. If someone is elected by the majority of a population under circumstances that are perverted by outside influences, then Canada as a Nation is doomed. The attributes which trouble me re Mr. Harper are as follows Do we really know who this man is? An analysis shows that he has worn many Political stripes. He is certainly not a Conservative. There are aspects of the Alliance Party, Reform Party, and the true Conservative party, loosely knit together for the sake of forming a Govt. It is obvious that Mr. Harper has to walk a very thin line between these parties’ policies, to stay in power Mr. Harper did, (if Mr Flanagan’s book is to be believed) write a ‘Blue Book’ i.e. a Reform Party Manual in about 1990. ( p.13 Ch. 1 ‘Harper’s Team’ by Tom Flanagan). The aim of the book in part was to delineate Mr. Harper’s policies. The most troubling aspect of this policy, has been expounded upon many times by Mr Flanagan in many venues : ‘Decentralized Federalism’. The whole idea is that if the power can be decentralized away from the Federal Govt. and one makes the Provinces responsible for their own individual destinies, each Province would be independent of the central Govt except for the amount that the Federal Govt gives in transfer payments. incumbent in this idea is the problem that the Provinces are not equal in their ability to look after their populations. It sounds good, except that this would also remove most of the Federal responsibility for a social safety net for the whole of Canada. This would probably effectively eliminate the services of which you speak over time, for at least a proportion of the population…. Mr Harper is known to have mused about building a ‘Fire Wall’ around Alberta to keep the East out… how sad that he uses a divide and conquer mentality to set one part of the population against another…I believe all Canadians want the same things… Mr Flanagan also praises Mr. Harper’s use of incrementalism… this term is used in the context which means that Mr Harper has a long term plan to enforce his own agenda for Canada. The ultimate aim is to prevent other parties who may be elected after Mr. Harper; from being able to promise anything during an election campaign. The way this would be accomplished is that there will be no reserve in the Federal coffers to implement the same. This may seem extreme, but this plan is already in progress. Every time Mr. Harper gains a few seats, he is able to implement more aspects of his overall plan for Canada. He is willing to work towards his ultimate goal, even if it takes a long time. This is not my take on the matter, but Mr. Flanagans. If one understands that the Federal Coffers held at least 16 Billion when Mr. Harper first came to power as the Prime Minister, and one looks at the balance now, it can be seen that there is no room to manouvre. We are approaching a deficit by next year at the latest. Without a safety net, we are in danger of falling into a recession… The sad part of all this is that the budget was balanced for the last ten years until now… One instance of an election promise which is quite popular, is that Mr Harper promised to cut 2 cents off a litre of diesel fuel… it sounds good until one realizes that this would cost the Federal Treasury, $730 million! a year or $4 billion over the next four years… and would take up 25 % of the total new spending allowance… I believe that there are many more egregious aspects and troubling facts associated with this Govt…I question whether it does truly represent the values that most Canadians hold dear, it would be well to read the evidence for oneself. There are several books on the subject. As I implied before there are no perfect people in the World, but some are more moral than others…the trick is to elect the most moral of the bunch who are running at any given time…never mind the party… I hesitate to endorse the NDP, as they are definitely not capable of overseeing the Finances of the country…I am not sure tough pragmatic Leaders fit the Bill unless they also have the welfare of ‘ALL’ Canadians at heart. As you rightly point out I am passionate about Canada. In closing I give you this quote which our family historian used to end his Memoirs. Alexander Pope’s Essay on critiicism(pt.11,1.53) “whoever thinks a faultless thing (piece) to see. Thinks what ne`er was, nor is, nor e`er shall be.” moral of the story for this purpose…some people are more faultless than others… I think we all owe it to future generations to make sure that our Heritage continues in the way that the majority of Canadians wish it to be…lastly…here’s a thought… Mr Dion was too moral…he should go back to France where they still believe in high ideals…

Hi Josephine, Thank you for your interesting information and for being so passionate about our country. But what is your answer to it all? There will never be a utopia in this world. Our country is about as good as it’s going to get. Our style of elections certainly could be changed but bottom line the Conservatives were re-elected. For all it’s faults we have one of the best places to live but the amount of complaining that goes on is irritating. What ever happened to the idea of gratefulness. For the on demand, basically free health care. for the relative safety ( we don’t have incoming missles, bombs going off, enough food to promote gluttony and obesity, most have warm, houses and there is welfare and shelters and medical care also for the poor ( albeit, could be improved) ALL the political parties have their downside, e.g. the NDP do not seem to understand economics, but it seems to be human nature that if the politicians start out with altruistic motives, they are soon changed to ones of self preservation and personal gain. ALL of them. In this climate we need tough, pragmatic leaders, it remains to be seen if we get them. p.s. I agree re: Pierre Trudeau, don’t get me started.

Sheila and Cherryl, the reason why I watch the Parliament so avidly is because, I am unable to work due to a serious debilitating illness. When I lived in England, I always voted Conservative. When I emmigrated to Canada, many Moons ago and had my children here, I switched allegiance to the Liberals by default, because the Canadian Conservatives are nothing like the British Conservatives. as a Canadian (I am a citizen) I feel even more so, because my 3Xs Great Grandad enlisted in the Royal Artillery and was sent to Canada in 1807 he stayed until 1815. According to the family Historian, my Grandad, was exremely proud to defend Canada against the Americans in the war of 1812. He and his wife had 4 children born in Quebec. My 2Xs Great Grandad was born in 1808 in or near the Citadel on the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec City…My 3Xs Great Grandad is buried with his infant daughter in Quebec City…however I digress. May I remind you that Mr Harper was elected by only 1/5th of the Canadian electorate… this is not representational of what Canada at large wishes… the other 3 Left wing parties split the majority vote, which was what Mr Harper was counting on…I think what does speak for itself is that for the most part people feel helpless and repulsed by the nasty turn Politics has taken… as usual the Election was not about the concerns of the people. The process was the main topic… A lot of people refused to vote because no one was addressing the followng problems Many jobs have been lost in Ontario in the last year When the process is more important than addressing these concerns, expect people to be turned off. This is not the only problem. 1) Listeriosis 2) Bovine encephalitis 3)Lead in toys from China 4) e coli making nearly 300 people sick just lately. 5) further recalls even today in different parts of Ontario over a new outbreak of e coli. The de-regulation of oversight bodies is a disaster. What worries me is that Mr Flaherty, Mr Prentiss, Mr Clement, Mr Baird and Mr Van Loan were all re-cycled from the Ontario Govt… they were all present during the Walkerton mayhap. When Mr Flaherty left the Ontario Govt. where he served a s Minister of Finance, He left behind a huge deficit. It was not immediately apparent, because the Govt sold the 407 Highway and ‘creatively’ because of this, seemingly balanced the books. The resut has been a disaster, because the revenue from this Highway is enormous and could have helped to offset the presnet deficit. It was sold to a private interest. Similarly the Sale of Air wave technology lately by the Federal Govt, is another caase in point, because this provided a one time only boost to the Federal Funds of $4 Billion dollars… question is how many more Institutions are going to be sold off to cover deficits? I have a BSc N from the Uof T. Last year I got extremely sick because of an ongoing problem attendant in one of the Emergs. I entered there relelatively healthy and contracted a potent virus… Nowehere was it posted that a communicable desease had been rampant in the Community for 6 months.. It was I found out later a ‘Norwalk’ virus… there was nothing in place to even try to seperate the patients with the virus from the other patients. I did finally get the situation resolved. As far as I am concerned, the Govt of Canada should not be elected on the premise of who’s turn it is… it should be determined on who has the good of Canadians in general at heart. Incidently I did not agree with Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Politics. The London School of Economics says it all… I am wondering why you believe Mr Harper does have the good of all Canadians at heart. I disagree on this premise for a number of reasons. Do not take my word, please read Mr Flanagan’s book on Stephen Harper called ‘Harper’s Team’. Mr Flanagam lays out Mr Harper’s agenda very clearly for anyone who wants to know. I cannot condone a Govt. that is being run by one man, who can decide the fate of a country like Canada… I was born in England under a dictatorship and War. I have no such desire to end my days under a similar scenario…by the way our son is serving in the Army Reserves. He is also on the Green Party Exec. in Ontario. He wrote his Master’s Thesis on Porportional Represenatation. My family comes from a long line of Dissenters and Quakers, who believe that it is not appropriate to sit back and say nothing when things are not right or moral… I give you no apology for this…I do not believe that I have all the answers, but I would wish that all Canadians do their own research into what is really going on in Canada today…Josephine.

To Josephine, No. I have NOT been watching CSPAN daily in the last 2 years because I am CANADIAN. I have to admit with some quilt as a hard working person like the majority of our fellow Canadians who have a need to put food on the table for our family, I do not have the time and luxury to watch CSPAN daily for 2 years However, I did make an effort with what little spare time I can squeezed to watch “QUESTION PERIOD” repeats on CPAC for about a year. I saw the circus played out in the HoC. It takes all parties involved to create a circus. I am sure Mr. Dion is an intelligent and nice person. As the LEADER of LPC who has a victim mentality and unable to defend his own position. Mr. Dion perpetuated and brought about his own self-destruction. Do I want a leader like Mr. Dion who can’t even defend himself and his party to defend my country? You reference to one soldier comment in the name of democracy. He is absolutely correct. His comment speaks volume about the Canadian voters that perpetuated the kind of behavior that he witnessed in the HoC.. His Canada had die a gradual death which began in 1982. Let me hazard a guess at Mr. Pierre Trudeau’s observation. Did the voters handed him power based on intelligent and common sense assessment of issues and policies.or based on his charm and charisma. Aided in big part by the hormonal driven syndrome.Mr.Trudeau has astutely observed the obtuse factor when he seek power for the PM Job. Ideal conditions and ripe for his brand of communism experimentation. If Mr. Pierre Trudeau’s observation that you referred to is made after been in power, it is merely to confirmed his original observation and the success of his little experiment. I voted for the Harper Team last 2 elections and will be proud to continue to vote for them as long they continue to do the right thing by ALL CANADIANS. The LPC is the only viable alternative but they have lost their moral compass big time. They have neglected and failed to clean their house since 1982. I made it my duty and responsibility not to gamble. To gamble means I hope to win and it has the unintended results of many losers. ” Food for thought.” Which kind? The broad, balance and non-bias variety or the narrow, myopic, looped sided bias variety.. Democracy by the people for the people. This is with the assumption that all voters are educated, well informed and have a clear understanding how democratic system works. I agreed and second Liz’s comments

Not only did attack Ads play a major role in the defeat of Mr Dion… the egregious behavior in the House of Commons for two years pre dating the election was instrumental in destroying a man… Did anyone who posted in reponse to this article, actually watch question period in the last two years? I did, on Cspan daily…all of it… it made me physically sick. If you can get a hold of the old tapes and take a look at it yourselves, then comment… I have never witnessed such a character assassination of a man’s persona (not his policies) as carried out by the Harper Govt. on Mr Dion. A leader should take responsibility for his caucus… I saw no leadership. What I did witness was that the speaker of the house, the Press/Media etc etc, were notably quiescent, and to my mind aided and abetted the abuse, by ignoring and not reporting the same. they need to be brought to account as well… to say that Parliament was shut down, not to mention the Committees by the Harper Govt is an understatement. Those who are drawn to a ‘strong Leader’ should be careful what they wish for…I asked a young man who he was voting for, he replied ‘a Leader’. I asked him to describe the attributes of the same, his reply was… “like the Captain of a Hockey Team” kind of says it all. I would venture to say that none of the European Leaders/British etc would qualify for office under that scenario as none of them would qualify for Leadership acccording to Canadian rules! none of them are 6ft tall, squared shoulders, lantern jawed etc…Churchill was known as a Bulldog. His looks were not what inspired Britain to fight to the end… to lead, one has to inspire people. Some people in the type of Leadership role as personified by Mr Harper, attract people who feel disempowered themselves. This allows these same people to live vicariously through the supposed ‘Leaders’ actions… things which would not be tolerated in society proper, were daily being encouraged in the House of Commons. It is a sad statement of affairs to believe that such a person has the good of Canada at heart… while advocating strict enforcement of Law on underage youth, Mr. Harper certainly failed to set a good example for anyone. I witnessed soldiers newly returned from Afghanistan who had been invited to visit the House of Commons, they left in apparent disgust, after witnessing the stomach churning behavior of the Harper Govt. One soldier said “is this what we are fighting for in Afghanistan”… I am ashamed that Canadians could stand back and watch such egregious behavior perpetrated in the name of democracy. This is not my Canada…Pierre Trudeau once made an observation that the majority of voting Canadians are obtuse. I would add, that I would bet that no one within a year will admit to voting for the Harper Team…food for thought.

Polls and pollsters are no different than whores racing and bookies in the high street. Gambling, manipulating, swaying and confusing voters psyche who do not understand nor educated about democratic whores racing. They placed their bets by eenie meanie minie mo without understanding the odds and sanctity of their bets. When the first whore past the post, losers’ recriminations follows. Instead of real and honest postmortem by our educated crowd, it is more of the same, pre-election circus = post election circus. If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat ourselves.and perpetually stuck in a loop. Bring to the mind, the guinea pig and the exercise wheel. THE BIGGEST LOSERS, OUR DEMOCRACY, THE DIGNITY OF THE BADGE OF OFFICE AND OUR CHILDREN. WAKE UP RIP VAN WINKLES, DEMOCRACY GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO GIVE AWAY YOUR RIGHT AT YOUR OWN FREE WILL BUT NONE OF US HAVE THE RIGHT TO GIVE OUR CHILDREN’S RIGHT AWAY BY PROXY. PLEASE DON”T TAKE DEMOCRACY FOR GRANTED OUT OF PETTINESS.. I wished one could enjoy the entertainment value and have a good laugh but our democracy is far too important to allow one to do that. Born and grew up a Kaffir in an Islamic country, having lived and worked in socialist/communist countries. No rights to speak of but daily victimization, persecution and oppression. Democracy is not perfect but it is the best system there is. I gave my vote to the Tory Team based on their policies and values who is still by far the best team to govern our country. Give one reason to hope and work hard for what we need for our family and community. The last thing I wish for Canada is LPC, NDP and Green promising cradle to grave entitlements, destroy incentives and systemically turn our children into morons.The left leaning parties and their partisan supporters have lost their moral compass which effected their ability to differentiate right from wrong.Truth from fiction. I have seen and experienced first hand the oppression, poverty, drudgery and decay which is the ultimate end result of the march to the left and hope to never see or experience it again for the sake of our future generations. The self – righteous double standards coming from the Anti Harper media and pundits defending the indefensible is incredibly mind boggling . It takes all it’s people to build a just and great nation. I still have hope for a balanced democracy with a humane society. Pipe dream? Maybe? I should take comfort from one consistent and reassuring fact that the SUN will rise from the EAST every morning to bring in the beginning of a new day with fresh hope.

Your piece was breathtakingly silent about the attack ads that came from the parties left of centre. To write an article that blindly ignores the facts of the matter is sorry journalism. Aside from the attack ads that stated that Harper didn’t care about Canadians, he was branded as “immoral,” “a liar,” “incompetent,” and “another Bush” to name a few. I heard these accusations daily by the leaders of the other federal parties repeated ad nausea on the nightly news. The poison that circulated during the election was disgusting, and came almost exclusively from the left. During the debates Harper was harassed by a four against one gang who constantly assassinated his character. Ms. May in particular couldn’t contain herself and stick to a compliment when directed to, she got her dig in.”You are a good father, but.” Harper was the only one of the bunch who gave a true compliment, with no disclaimers. Andrew Grenville and Mario Canseco want to blame Conservative attack ads for low voter turnout, and even the result. To suggest that in a campaign a Federal party’s ads can’t point out the pitfalls of a leader’s policies is outrageous. In fact, that is the job of opposing candidates. The public is expected to listen to the ads, and do some analysis. The truth is that Stephane Dion had leadership problems within his own party. Many Liberals were unhappy with his Green Shift. Others (including Rae and Ignatieff) wanted him to be willing to postpone implementing it until after the economic storm calmed. He dug his heels in and refused to do so. I watched him being interviewed on the CBC National and he was adamant with Peter Mansbridge upon questioning implementation of the Green Shift was non-negotiable. His inflexibility was concerning. Leading our country through difficult times requires strong leadership. He had ample opportunity in the public eye to calm any fears that might have come from “attack” ads, but he was unable to do so. Why do you think the two major national papers, and most major papers in the country (including The Vancouver Sun) endorsed Harper? I read the editors’ endorsements of Harper, and every one of them cited concern about Dion’s leadership abilities. Once the result was in and the Liberals lost miserably their election post-mortem rhetoric is to demonize the Conservatives. The truth is that the Liberals blew it big time but instead of facing the fact, they have a propaganda machine immobilized to tarnish the Conservatives with the image of the nasty entity. The Liberals are the worst at trying to discredit the leaders of their opponents. They did it with Preston Manning, Stockwell Day, to name a couple. Harper’s name was used like a swear word when uttered on the tongue of Stephane Dion. He used every attempt to brand Mr. Harper as a callous, ineffective, leader, losing control of the economy. He even made false claims several times that the country was in deficit when it was not. So it doesn’t engender a great deal of sympathy with this writer when Grenville, Canseco, and the like cry “foul.” What a pile of hypocrisy. What is truly disappointing is that a journalist like you would print such a biased piece of rhetoric. Tsk. Tsk.

Well, that was a lot of angst to go through. The outcome was predicted soon after the call. The only ads I thought were good were May’s. What upset me the most was learning only 58% of eligable voters, voted. This is about the same % as in the 2004 US election. Voter turn out Nov 4th (in the US) will probably be better than it has been in years. I am happy for the Americans and their new enthusasiam (even it is based on all of show & tell) for the democrate process and very disappointed in the Canadians who had a chance to vote and chose not too. Oh well, may be next time.

So the Conservatives managed to “brand” Dion for he what he so obviously was – not up to the rought and tumble of politics. Had there been no advertising at all, would Dion have seemed any different? Not a chance. How is the Conervatives’ advertising different from what the Liberals did to Stephen Harper, he of the “hidden agenda”? (Some might arguie the former was accurate and the latter inaccurate based on what we have seen so far). I can argue quite plausibily that the failure of the Conservatives to gain a majority was becasue of the cumulative affect of the Liberals’ negative campaigns against Harper. Negative advertising can be and often is unfair but it balances the gloss and glibness of the parties’ advertising about their own plans and programs.

So did I miss the “poll” in the last few elections where the “scary” Harper meme, or the Guns in our Cities, or the Bush/Harper or the “hidden agenda” were used by the Liberals to take votes away from the Tories? This “blame the Tories for our loss” is stupid. The Liberals lost this for many, many reasons and I note that it is only the Tories negative advertising that gets the blame – not the ABC campaigns or the “stop Harper” campaigns or the “don’t vote Green, vote Liberal” last minute screech from Lizzie May that prevented the Tories from getting a majority. How come Angus Reid? How come Vancouver Sun?

I would like to know the question they asked to get the response they got. Was it, “Did you not vote because of the Conservative’s negative adds?” or “Why did you not vote?” with no leading into the conclusion. I’ll bet it was a lot closer to the former than the later. I was a volunteer in Eastern Ontario and it was suprising the excuses we got from some of the people we called in the get out the vote drive. I just Googled voter turn out and got an article from the CBC about low voter turn out in the last Ontario election, I guess that was the Conservatives fault too what with the huge Liberal majority.

Wow! Once again, the Conservative government are made to swallow the dead cat after the left leaning parties had killed it. It is bad enough that the LPC lost the election and now the pundits and spin misters are adding salt to the wound by taking away their credits as original creator of the art of negative ads and negative campaigning. Life is so unfair, after all they are the party that had perfected the art after much investment of time and money. The media and the pundits are the culprits. Bias and irresponsible individual opinions, spins and propagandas. With all your spinning, hardly surprising that the voters are dizzy and confused that not all are capable of deciphering between facts and spins. Many of you are so blinded by bias and one upmanship cockiness that you can’t take your head out of a brown paper bag to entertain the reality that there are other point of views in our society that has merits and validity. How about some moral ethical honest reflection on the part of the media and pundits who make a mockery and devalue our governmental system and sabotage our democracy. I must be naive to make the assumption that those who are in the journalism business (profession???) are educated thinking people. The few in the media who practice fair and balanced reporting are outnumbered. Wakey, wakey to all Rip Van Winkles. The LPC has not been the party what used to be since Pierre Trudeau’s era (circa 1982) Pride in one’s nation and good governance is a collective effort. How about some non-bias fair and balanced reporting.The truth nothing but truth would be real noble gesture to your fellow citizens.

Baloney. Chretien was mean-spirited, (choking heckler back east + joking about police pepper-spraying protesters during an international meeting in Vancouver- http://www.thestar.com/article/266641) as was Trudeau (“just watch me” + “fuddle duddle” +bankrupting Alberta 25 or so years ago) My joke this past election was “which marxist party” does a non-conservative want to vote for? A majority of Canadians aren’t ready for conservatism (yet), but want a government closer to the traditional middle. In my opinion there will continue to low turnouts until somebody fills that void.Harper , with no one to his right, will do it if the Liberals don’t move quickly. The Greens will disappear if we don’t all burn up soon, and if the Liberals dither we could end up with just two major national parties- conservatives and NDP

I think you are right on the nose with this one. I can’t quiet get myself to the point that I don’t vote, but it sure is frustrating watching the blatant lies going on with the advertising. The Green Shift plan, for example, kept getting repeated as a tax grab despite it being tax neutral and heavily supported by a large number of economists. Am I to suggest that it was the right plan, no. Should it be up for disagreement? yes. That sadly isn’t what happened. This wasn’t about a debate about the ideals of dealing with taxes and pollution, it turned into an idea versus blatant lies and the lies won out. Part of this is a failing of the parties, but they are just doing what they have to do. It is the fact that people don’t try to educate themselves on the issues that allow these attack ads to become so effective. Sadly a large number of the people that DO educate themselves, only do it on one side of an argument rather than going out of their way to understand an argument and make up their own mind. The only thing I have taken out of these recent elections is quite simply this: We need proportional representation in this country.

Better yet, teach democracy in school, and make the home-school curriculum require civic duty before graduation, regardless of religious bents. Citizenship is non-denominational. Period. Teach all Canadians what it means to vote, and how to make a choice for your own self. Stress the importance of individual freedom, thought and choice. Choice should not be feared or fearful, but free, open and individual. Teach children how to recognize propoganda and smear tactics for what they are: lies and bully arts best left to base people. Teach facts, provide answers, demand truth. In advertising, require proof in statements made on air and allow rebuttals, involve the MLAs, MPs and the PM. Involve everyone in the politic of the country. Not just your sort of people, all sorts of people, all Canadians. Canada used to be looked up to for its democratic ways. Make it so again.

This writer and reporter of fact has no chance in the face of the righteous and rather bad spellers who respond in defense of propaganda and false advertising. Tell this story in the churches and synagogues. Then perhaps maybe you will stand a chance of a few discerning the truth. In the meantime, before the end time, brace yourself for an onslaught of sheer ignorance. Also in the meantime, learn to fight fire with fire, but use it smartly! The scorched earth policy will not have much truck either way among the believers. God knows it’s every one for his or her self.

If this is not garbage, then there is something majorly wrong with Canadians. Lets tell it Liberals openly infighting, I will start a plan after I am elected, I will do it all in 30 days Harper is a liar (2,199 times) the environment farce of the Century, Co2 tax, Liberals to tell us what to purchase with huge tax give backs, All the air / tv time spent lambasting the Conservatives Pretending – Canada is in major Trouble, stating they, and only they are the NATURAL PARTY OF Canada. Cheering for an election, Complaining when they got one, bragging about steering the economy when their own party cannot fiscally manage themselves. Old school tactics, old school knowledge, old school self advertising using party pity, and dozens of broken old school mirrors. Yes we need Bob Rae, out front with Dion in the back ground next time. Many supporters of Canada’s centre-left parties ARE SIMPLY OUT OF TOUCH – they need not be like this.

I beg to differ with all you deniers. Never before in history did any Canadian Government have a continuous campaign with dirty type ads from the time they were elected (January 2006 to Oct 14/08. The truth hurts doesn’t it? Repeat the same old thing & people will believe anything you say. It worked on all of you.

What a bunch of garbage, blaming the Tories for low voter turnout? What about the reporters and the newspapers who do such a fine job of reporting the “exciting” presidential election to the south while glazing over the politics in their own country. It is pretty hard to find papers and news that covers politics in a non-partisan way. The Sun is as much to blame as any political party. Face it, we live in a complacent, lazy society who is fed garbage through the media.

40% of Canadians are too stupid to vote anyway, and it’s probably due to their ignorance about politics. So when they are asked if negatives ads turned them off voting, they say ‘yes’ because it’s a convenient excuse for their ignorance. Of course, one could also extend this argument by saying that those who voted Liberal, NDP and Green are stupid too .. because they assured we would be governed by a minority government when the country needs a strong and unopposed government in these challenging times. Oh well, the next new Liberal leader will have to precipitate another election very soon because he can’t survive on that abstention treadmill for very long.

Give me a break. Anyone who says an ad was responsible for them not voting is full of it. it is more likely that they just didn’t feel like it and are grasping at the cop out of moral outrage to justify their non action at the polls. A person who would give up his option to vote because an ad probably shouldn’t vote anyway as it is clear they have no concept of what any party or candidate stands for or what the issues are.

I think other commenters rather miss the point of this story. The effects of the ads are not being reported as the author’s opinion nor the opinion of the people doing the research, this is a measured result of a statistical instrument. You can talk about whether this is a good or bad thing or why it happened, but the cause and effect relationship is already proven.

What’s next? Stephen Harper pushed Humpty Dumpty? Keep trying boys, Canadians are sick of the corrupt liberals. That’s why many who might have voted liberal stayed home, they were sick of being robbed by the liberal party. And Conservatives are more idealistic, that’s why they actually donate to their political party and why conservatives volunteer more, they donate more to charities, and they give blood more.

Yeah, and they make children cry too. What a load of horsecrap. Where were these so-called ‘pollsters’ during the 2004 election when Stephen Harper was called everything but a child molester? Canada’s “centre-left” parties, you will remember, are of course known for their fierce stands against corruption. Conservatives, on the other hand, are known for their prolific hatred of a better future (don’t forget children and babies!). Also, from the mouth of the other ‘pollster’ involved in this farce, Mario Canseco : “What’s really disheartening is it’s almost as if everyone’s made up their minds already,” said the polling firm’s Mario Canseco. “Those who actually have something to say about Dion are saying negative things.” If you check him up on Google, you’ll find a slew of articles about polls on mostly left-wing causes. Surprise! You know whose fault it is if you don’t vote? It’s yours. End of story. Hell, if you didn’t even want to vote for any of the parties you could have gone out and spoiled your ballot – so long as you voted. To make up some cockamamie story blaming the Conservatives for low voter turnout is nothing short of Harper Derangement Syndrome. Gimme a break.

All these pollsters are doing is reporting the facts they deduce from their research, The Tories aren’t the only ones who went negative but they were the best at it this time, They seized the agenda early and never let it go and they didn’t let the other side gain any traction. They were skillful (and lucky) with their negative attack ads and it worked on many levels, Next time they will probably not be so fortunate – especially if the Liberals select the right leader, We all know who that is, Hint – look for the guy who the Tory commentators declare will be the death of the Liberal party. That’s the guy their really scared of.

I don’t know what circles you run in, but in my experience, and I ain’t young, Canadians are not this dainty. Be that as it may, two comments: First, the Conservatives’ rough treatment of Dion since his selection as leader was obviously payback for what the Liberals did to Stockwell Day and tried to do to Harper – “scary Stephen” and all that. And I hope they do it to the next Liberal leader and keep doing it until the Liberals learn to leave self-described Ass-kickers out of their war room. Second, on the matter of negative advertising generally, look, when someone stands in front of me and asks me to vote for him in an election for a responsible position, I want to know all I can learn about him in two broad categories – why I should vote for him and why I should not vote for him. For the first group, I will consult him and his propaganda and, for the second, I will consult his opponent and her propaganda, and vice versa. I don’t see anything “negative” in this. Its information I need.

“The attack ads the Conservative Party of Canada launched during this fall’s election campaign not only convinced some declared Liberals not to vote for their party, even more Canadians turned off entirely from voting.” I beg your pardon? Correlation does not imply causation, as any undergraduate philosophy student knows.

What a load of BS. Where were Grenville and Conseco after the last election when the Lieberals were scaring the Canadian electorate with images of a dangerous and scary Stephen Harper with a Hidden Agenda and Soldiers in our Streets and other BS negative ads. No they were nowhere to be found and I don’t recall seeing any stories by them about it. No this is just some more whining by biased Lieberals who just can’t take the fact that the Conservatives ran an effective campaign. Is telling the truth about the opposition leader negative advertising. I think not. Now everyone knows that Politics is rough business and if the Canadians that didn’t vote because they were “turned off by the Negative Advertising” well tough luck for them. Get some backbone to make a decision. If these people don’t have the backbone to make up their mind then they shouldn’t have the right to vote perhaps. Ask the Iraquis who voted in their first election after the war how it felt to go out and take a chance at the polls while facing the threat of getting shot or blown up. Now that’s grit. Some Canadians have become self centered sheep who feel entitled to everything they want and when they know they might not get it they stick their heads in the ground. Pity Canada.

Peter LT is correct. Voter turnout is not the responsibility of any one political party – not even the evil, nasty, kitten-eating Conservatives. People are responsible for their own actions – to vote or not to vote. While the Conservative ad campaign was effective in defining Dion and the Liberals, the message was not to not vote. Dion must take the blame for his campaign. It was weak, ineffective, and was just not selling what Canadians wanted in a Prime Minister or a government. More taxes on everything??? During a financial melt-down??? I don’t think so! The fact that Dion did not listen to his caucus before and during the election is his own fault, no one elses. Sorry, but it sucks to be you.